Dia Tres a Espana – the market and paella

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A fun part of this trip has been learning and practicing speaking both Spanish and German. Our hosts are German and Marie and her family have been coming to this home since she can remember so she’s got a bit of Spanish but mostly speaks German with Markus and English with us.
Shannon lived in Munich with the help of Markus for about a year and he lived in Mexico as an exchange student for a couple of months when he was at Santa Cruz high school.
I studied French in high school and college and have picked up a bit of Spanish and German from Shannon.
When I try to speak Spanish, a lot of French comes out.
When I try German, it’s Sprench.
But it’s so much fun!
I’m looking forward to being in Germany for a couple of days, surrounded by German like I’m surrounded by Spanish here.

Today we went to the local market where I got myself a maxi dress (thanks for the suggestion Nicole!) for only €10 because of Shannon’s mad negotiation skills.
“How much for the dress?”
“€15”
“Okay, Gracias.” puts dress back on rack.
The shop keeper asks me “You like it?”
I say “Yes” and he says, “Okay, €10”

It was hot and breezy at the market and many of the goods looked to me like things one finds in most of these markets: cheap t shirts, silver jewelry and lots of clothing and scarves made in India. But, the Spanish-ness that I noticed were leather goods like bags and shoes, pottery including house numbers and placards as well as dishes and fun clothing (like the dress i got).

The market closed for siesta around 3 and we went home to the Marbella Harbor for our first Paella. Due to Shanny’s fierce allergy to shellfish, we got one with only shimp and fish and it was amazing. M & M’s was filled with shellfish, shrimp and fish and they loved it.
We walked around after eating and got to see the ritzy rich in Marbella doing their thing. They looked so fancy in their expensive labels. Markus had to go into the electronics store to see the iPhone 3G that they apparetly had unlocked and for a mere €1400 it could have been his. That’s almost $2000! We didn’t believe that it was ulocked but without a SIM card to test it ourselves, there was no way to prove it. I had mine with me but didn’t want to deal with them using my SIM.

After this we wandered back to the car and headed home for the evening. We had pureed watermelon with vodka while playing cards. Markie and Marie had a suprise for us in the morning and we had to hit the hay early so around 1am we all fell into our beds.

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1 Response to “Dia Tres a Espana – the market and paella”


  1. Aura

    Hey, I had no idea you were in Spain! How awesome is that! I am excited to read about your trip and your other blog posts have filled me in a little life in San Fransisco. Do you know Bronwyn is a doula and was mine for Patrick’s birth. Midwifery or doulaing is an amazing thing and you should definetly look into it. love you and have fun! ATL